At first glance, [John’s] CD-ROM RasPi case may not seem all that unique, but we like both the implementation as well as the end-result functionality it provides. His goal was to use the Pi as a torrent downloader, and to store the downloaded files on a shared network drive. The Pi drive would slide into a bay in the server’s case—hence the Inception reference: a computer in a computer—allowing downloads while putting another step between the server and the outside world keeping, as well as guaranteeing that the network share would be available, because the server and the Pi would use the same power source.
[John] gutted the CD-ROM’s internals to leave only the PCB, which he stripped of most everything save for the power connector in the back. He then used the base of his old RasPi case as a standoff, mounting it to the top of the CD-ROM’s PCB. He soldered the power lines to the ROM’s power connector and temporarily hooked up a 5V adapter until he gets the server running. The final step was to carve out the back of the case for access to the Ethernet and USB ports, which [John] accomplished with a dremel, a hacksaw and a file. The front of the case still looks like a stock CD-ROM drive, and [John] has plans for future mods: re-purposing the LED to show network activity and modifying the buttons to serve as a reset, pause, or start for torrent downloads.
Ross SparcPlug. Google it.
$5500-10000 back in 96, wow.
you can get a whole heap of stuff nowadays that fit into drive bays. you could easily find something like an LCD that you could use to display stats or something. Or get a standard drawer and add whatever you want to the front
But why a raspi for the torrents when you already have a fileserver you could run torrents on?
“…allowing downloads while putting another step between the server and the outside world”
However a VM could also acomplish this.
I’m picturing trying to hide a raspberry pi in a school classroom to torrent stuff for you. You could hide it anywhere… a couch, a wall, under a desk, etc. But the issue of power arrises. He choose to hide it inside a computer so he could ween off the computer’s power. By hiding a computer in a lab computer you can be sure nobody’s going to unplug and/or notice your device. It would be difficult to setup an invisible vm running windows in the foreground on a public computer.
My plan was to put dual wireless cards in the raspberry pi’s so anyone could send them torrent links to start downloading by simply connecting to them as a wifi hotspot. I was going to also have them upload links to a cloud machine and allow visitors to download them on command. This setup would be a perfect base for this device. Additionally the psu power is much more stable and ample then power from an old cell phone charger.
or you could pay for your own internet connection, without slowing the labs’ connection down to a crawl, ruining the fun for everyone and generically being a douche.
you seriously think that nobody would notice the bandwidth hit?
and you know what happens when the admins notice that someone is syphoning off their bandwidth? no more p2p for anyone.
I honestly don’t think this is even worthy enough to deserve an article.
Run transmission on that bad boy